Shooter game uses real Japanese bow as interface
All fired up: Light Shooter
(Credit: DigInfo TV)
Traditional Japanese archery, or kyudo, involves drawing a bow that can be taller than the archer himself.
You wouldn’t think a long flexible bamboo pole makes for a great gaming interface, but Masasuke Yasumoto of Tokyo University of Technology would disagree.
He developed a game called Light Shooter that makes use of a traditional bow, or yumi, as a shooting device.
The bow doesn’t fire arrows, but it does have a strain gauge as well as acceleration and magnetic sensors.
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In a darkened room, players aim at on-screen figures and animals formed of lines and dots, draw the bow, and release the string. A computer calculates the tra… [Read more]
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